Airwave at UK LLC

In 2022, we joined UK LLC, a national research resource aimed at making new scientific discoveries and supporting the translation of research into NHS practice. UK LLC has been built and is run by a collaboration of UK Universities, the NHS, and the Office for National Statistics. It brings together de-personalised study data from over twenty research projects (including Airwave) to provide a rich source of data to investigate environmental and genetic influences on health, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, COVID-19, dementia, and mental health. It will be kept up to date as time goes on using data obtained from participants’ NHS records.

As with all Airwave Study data, we appreciate the critical importance of ensuring the security and protection of participants’ data. The data in UK LLC are held in a Trusted Research Environment (TRE) run by the University of Bristol. A TRE is a computer system where approved researchers can access and study data in a way that safeguards participants’ data. The TRE stores all data in the UK, and researchers cannot remove data from the system. Its security is checked by NHS and ISO27001 professional auditors, ensuring it meets the same level of security as used in our local TRE. 

UK LLC hold no data that could be used to identify you. Names, addresses and so on remain on Imperial College's secure servers. The Airwave Study's Data Access Committee, which includes a Police Federation member, controls which researchers can use your data and for what purposes - whether at UK LLC or elsewhere.

You can find out more about the UK LLC on their Frequently Asked Questions page at https://ukllc.ac.uk/faq/. A short explanatory video is also available. Unless you tell us otherwise, your data will be contributing to research projects that we approve from 2026. If you don’t want your data to be included, please advise us by entering your opt-out at https://www.police-health.net/followup.